Self proclaimed ATHEISTS, how do you define "atheism"?

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   Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years ago

   If you claim to be an atheist, how do you define "atheist"?
   
   I personally agree with the latin origins meaning the prefix of the letter "A" means without, hence I used the defintion "without theism (belief in a god)".

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't make that claim, but have always considered an atheist to be one that declares there is no God without evidence to back the statement.  A theist declares there is a God without evidence, either.
      
      An agnostic, on the other hand declares lack of sufficient knowledge to declare that there either is or isn't a God.  (S)he may have strong leanings either way, but still cannot make a definitive statement.
      
      As there IS no evidence these are the only possibilities; one cannot claim that either there is or isn't a God based on evidential facts.
      
      That does not appear to be the modern definition, based on what I see in the forums.

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         Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think some of the most amusing arguments I've seen are how to define an "agnostic." That's where, after all the really easy arguments are made about atheist vs theist, the real hissing and spitting comes out.

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            Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Gnosticism and agnosticism are claims to knowledge rather than belief. I stick to the latin origins of the prefix of the letter "A" so I define gnosticism as a claim of knowledge and agnosticism as a lack of knowledge.

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            wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I don't hiss or spit well, so I guess I'll just have to keep my own definition without trying to defend it to others.

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      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      One that does not accept the claims of a theist.

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   Emile Rposted 12 years ago

   Sorry. Atheists don't get to make up their own definitions. That would be cheating. I haven't noticed that theists or agnostics are allowed that privilege here on Hub Pages.

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      Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The definition of words is subjective and varies across the globe. Who is challenging the popular definition of theist? Not me.

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   janesixposted 12 years ago

   Sorry, but ive been banned from the religious forums until ive learned to spell "athiests" right
   
   Ill be back in a week to give you my opinion

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      Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      A week?  How did you get off so lightly? I'm emailing the moderators. This is just not right.

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         janesixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I might be getting another week for not using punctuation

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            Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            

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4. 60

   Debbiestrangeposted 12 years ago

   I learned of God as a child, much as I learned about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.  I held onto my belief in God much longer than I did for the other two.  As an adult, and having a strong background in science, I let go of my belief in God; mostly because of the vast contradictions I found in the Bible and among proclaimed Christians who preached one thing but acted out in other ways.  I asked for answers, for years, and never received proper answers. 
   
   I don't know if there is a God, but if there is, as described in the Bible, as all loving and all powerful, it makes no sense to me that our world is so messed up.  These are the type of contradictions that caused me to place my belief in God on the shelf next to Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.
   
   There is a stereotypical belief that atheists have evil in their hearts; that if we don't serve God, we must serve the devil.  (I hear that a lot)  We don't believe in the devil either.  We are no different than anybody else, trying to make it through this life.  The biggest difference between an atheist and a Christian is, (based on my own personal life) we take responsibility for our failures and successes.  We do not blame an entity when things get hard or if we fail, and we do not give credit to an entity if we succeed.  We are not evil, depressed individuals; in fact, we tend to have a deeper understanding of mankind, a more open view of the world, and the ability to accept diversity.

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      BLACKANDGOLDJACKposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You may not believe in the devil, but he believes in you.

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         Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         How do you know? Oh my god are you the devil?

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            BLACKANDGOLDJACKposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            No, I'm not the devil.
            
            But I spoke to the devil years ago in Haight-Ashbury.
            
            He was a hippy.

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               Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               So the devil is a proponent of world peace? Awesome. That makes sense that he and god are fighting since god is such a sadistic warmonger.

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                  BLACKANDGOLDJACKposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Is that Hebrew you are speaking?
                  
                  It's all Greek to me. What you are saying, I mean.

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      Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That was very insightful. How do you define the word?

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   AvrilLavign123posted 12 years ago

   the devil is not a hippy he is a real devil not fake :[

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      janesixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There is no real devil.the only devils are human beings.

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         Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You obviously never heard of dust devils

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            Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Or tasmanian devils. Or devil's food cake. They wouldn't make it if there wasn't a devil to eat it.

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6. 60

   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   I'm not an atheist, but I define it as "tunnel vision".

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      Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That would figure, that's why I directed the question to atheists.
      
      I figured that theists tend to tell atheists what they are so often it would be nice to see how atheists define atheism.

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         Druid Dudeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         say what?

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            Jesus was a hippyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Say hoooooo!!!

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